On March 15, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine will be the featured speaker at the dedication of a historic highway marker for the "Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans" that was once located in Richmond's historic Jackson Ward neighborhood.  It will be at 11 am on Saturday, March 15 rain or shine at the corner of St. Paul and Charity Streets, the former location of the orphanage (that was demolished in 1969).  It was founded in 1871 by Lucy Goode Brooks and the Ladies Sewing Circle for Charitable Work, who were all formerly enslaved.  The marker states that the orphanage "provided a haven for orphaned African American children in post Civil War Richmond," and was the "only adoption agency in Virginia placing African American youth."  The organization is now called FRIENDS Association for Children, and sponsored the marker through the state Department of Historic Resources.  Joseph K. Brooks, who is the great grandson of Lucy Goode Brooks, and who is an archivist at the Library of Congress will attend, as well as several other dignitaries.  There will be a brief reception at the FRIENDS family center at 1004 St. Johns Street following the ceremony.  For more information contact the DHR contact person Randy Jones at [log in to unmask] or Julie M. Sulik who is the FRIENDS Communications Coordinator at [log in to unmask]  The Virginia historic highway marker program has been operating since 1927, and there are currently over 2,000 official state markers, www.dhr.virginia.gov.

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